TCS | Rebooting Cell C: Jorge Mendes sets out his strategic plan

Loading player...
Jorge Mendes has been in the hot seat at Cell C for just over a year, and the turnaround at the long-troubled mobile operator is starting to gain traction.
In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Mendes sits down with TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod for a detailed interview in which he provides an update on what’s happened in the past year at Cell C, paints of a picture of the state of the business today, and sets out what comes next for the mobile operator.
To signal the management team’s intentions, and to declare the business is on a new strategic footing and is in the market for the long term, Cell C recently refreshed its brand identity and signalled its intention to take back market share from its bigger rivals.
In this episode of TCS, Mendes tackles a range of questions, including:
• Why he left what seemed to be a plum job at Vodacom to take on the difficult challenge of turning around Cell C;
• What went through his mind in the first few days on the job;
• Cell C’s plan to recapture the title of third largest mobile operator from Telkom – and to take the fight to MTN and Vodacom;
• Why Cell C has struggled to compete, how it accumulated huge amounts of debt and why the new strategy is its best but last chance of success;
• The state of Cell C’s finances – and especially its balance sheet – following the recent recapitalisation led by its largest shareholder, Blue Label Telecoms;
• His relationship with Blue Label founders and co-CEOs Brett Levy and Mark Levy;
• The role of regulatory support, especially in call termination;
• Why Cell C handed back the spectrum it secured in the 2022 spectrum auction, and its plans for participation in future auctions;
• The role of mobile virtual network operators and wholesale services in Cell C’s recovery plan; and
• Cell C’s strategy to capture more of the lucrative contract market.
There’s plenty more in the interview with Mendes – don’t miss the conversation!
13 Sep 2024 8AM English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita on competition, AI and the future of mobile

South Africa’s big three telecommunications operators have all reported numbers in recent weeks, and the theme is clear: competition in prepaid has intensified sharply. Telkom’s resurgence has put pressure on both MTN and Vodacom, with MTN acknowledging it has “discernibly” lost prepaid market share. This is one of the topics…
28 Nov 5AM 57 min

Dominic Cull on fixing South Africa’s ICT policy bottlenecks

Returning to the TechCentral Show is ICT regulatory expert Dominic Cull, founder of Ellipsis and regulatory advisor to the Internet Service Providers’ Association (Ispa). Cull recently attended communications minister Solly Malatsi’s policy colloquium in Pretoria – the first under a non-ANC communications minister. Cull says there is a discernibly different…
21 Nov 2AM 1 hr 04 min

BMW CEO Peter van Binsbergen on the future of South Africa’s automotive industry

South Africa’s automotive industry is in a state of flux. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, BMW Group South Africa CEO Peter van Binsbergen unpacks the challenges – and opportunities – facing a sector under pressure. He tells TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the future of BMW’s Rosslyn manufacturing…
6 Nov 4AM 30 min

Why Altron is building an AI factory

Altron earlier this month announced that it has deployed an "AI factory" in one of Teraco’s new Johannesburg data centres. Powered by Nvidia AI infrastructure and software, the factory is has already gone live with half a dozen customers. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, Altron Group chief technology…
28 Oct 5AM 26 min

The company building a ‘living computer’ with human cells

The invention of the silicon transistor was fundamental to the success of the digital age, driving the core of the modern-day digital economy. The rise of generative AI has put hardware at the epicentre of the next wave of economic growth, with chip makers such as Nvidia and AMD reaching…
23 Oct 8AM 19 min